Right-of-Way Acquisition and Property Condemnation: A Comparison of U.S. State Laws

Recommendations for improvements in U.S. right-of-way (ROW) acquisition processes should consider the environmental, social, political, and economic characteristics of individual states. These characteristics are reflected in state statutes and constitutions, which place restrictions on ROW staff in applying recommended strategies. This work compares state condemnation statutes, noting their weaknesses and strengths. It recommends modifications to current laws to expedite the acquisition process, minimize cost, and build property owners' trust in government. It also examines how various factors are statistically significant in predicting state condemnation rates

Elements for comprehensive highway cost estimation : construction costs of key roadway infrastructure, right-of-way for the Trans-Texas Corridor, and condemnation comparisons across states

The major contributors to the total cost and duration of highway projects are utility relocation, right-of-way (ROW) acquisition, and construction. This paper discusses the volatility of the cost of the two latter phases and suggests alternative cost estimation tools and methods based on Texas databases. It describes three related but distinct studies. The first study discussed relies on regression models to estimate the construction costs of key roadway infrastructure. The second applies county-level appraisals and other databases to estimate the cost of ROW acquisition for the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) project. The third investigates the legal aspects of ROW acquisition and compares relevant statutes across the U.S. states, relative to their condemnation rates. Based on these comparisons, this paper offers recommendations that are expected to lower condemnation rates as well as the cost and duration of the ROW acquisition process. The work addresses significant gaps in the existing literature and should prove valuable to construction professionals/managers, transportation planners, developers, appraisers, and those involved in highway project cost estimation, as well as ROW acquisitionCivil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineerin

Right-of-Way Acquisition and Property Condemnation: A Comparison of U.S. State Laws

Recommendations for improvements in U.S. right-of-way (ROW) acquisition processes should consider the environmental, social, political, and economic characteristics of individual states. These characteristics are reflected in state statutes and constitutions, which place restrictions on ROW staff in applying recommended strategies. This work compares state condemnation statutes, noting their weaknesses and strengths. It recommends modifications to current laws to expedite the acquisition process, minimize cost, and build property owners’ trust in government. It also examines how various factors are statistically significant in predicting state condemnation rates

Perceived stress and demographic characteristics of women with multiple sclerosis

Background and aimMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a neurologic, chronic and progressive disease in which stress and stressful events may play as a trigger in the occurrence and relapse of its symptoms. With respect to higher incidence of MS in women, the aim of this descriptive study was to determine perceived stress and demographic characteristics of women with symptomatic MS. Materials and MethodsSubject population consisted of all women with signs and symptoms of MS referring to Association of MS patients or one of the hospitals affiliated to Iran, Shahid Beheshti and Tehran Medical Universities. A consecutive sampling method was used to select 190 women. A demographic questionnaire and Perceived Stress scale (PSS) were used for data collection. Although the scale was psychometrically evaluated in previous Iranian studies, content and Cronbach’s α methods were used for the validity and internal consistency of it respectively. For quantitative analysis, different descriptive statistical methods were applied for data analysis.  FindingsMost women (mean age=33.6) were married (63.5%) with high school diploma or academic education (75.7%) and household (65.8%) in middle class (76.7%). Mean duration of affliction was 5 years with at least 1 period of hospitalization and often with no social support (79.8%). In addition, more than half of them (53.7%) had high perceived stress and the rest experienced low stress. ConclusionAccording to the study results and with respect to probable role of stress in triggering or relapsing MS signs and symptoms, more extensive studies are deemed necessary to identify stressful factors. In addition, by considering the lack of social support and high perceived stress in most subjects and changeability and modifiability of these variables, providing facilities for instruction and consultation to support the patients and manage their stress is recommended. Keywords: Perceived stress, Multiple sclerosis, Women’s health, Social support, Mental health.  *Corresponding Author: Bastani, Farideh. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Health, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: [email protected]

Novel design of compact UWB dielectric resonator antenna with dual-band-rejection characteristics for WiMAX/WLAN bands

A novel compact dual band-notched dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) for ultrawideband (UWB) applications is proposed. Here, the bandwidth enhancement and the first band notch is realized by embedding a stub that is located to the hollow center of a U-shaped feedline simultaneously. By etching an inverted T-shaped parasitic strip at the back plane of an antenna that is surrounded by a dielectric resonator (DR), the second band rejection is created. By cutting a slot at the proper position on the ground plane, the width of the second band notch is controlled. The proposed antenna size is 12 × 30 × 6mm3 or about 0.124 ? × 0.31 ? × 0.062 ? at 3.1 GHz. The measurement results demonstrate that the proposed DRA provides acceptable radiation performances such as an ultra-wide impedance bandwidth of around 122% with two sufficient band rejections in the frequency bands of 3.22-4.06 and 4.84-5.96 GHz, high radiation efficiency, and nearly constant gain

Sustainable synthesis of pectinolytic enzymes from citrus and Musa acuminata peels for biochemical oxygen demand and grease removal by batch protocol

Abstract In recent years, oil and grease has been identified as an emerging pollutant of concern (EPC) in wastewater stream as it can disturb the ecology and wastewater treatment process efficiency. The highest contributor to oily wastewater among domestic wastewater is from kitchen greywater. One of the alternatives to address this problem is the application of enzyme. The production of enzyme by using organic waste has gained significant attention in the recent years due to sustainable demand from it. In this study, pectinolytic enzyme was produced through simplified fermentation from discarded citrus peels that possess high lipase content. Three batches of treatment which consist of the control sample (solely wastewater), 25% (v/v) citrus enzyme + wastewater and 50% (v/v) citrus enzyme + wastewater was incubated in an incubator shaker for 10 days at 30 °C and 150 rpm. The wastewater analysis was performed at a regular interval of 48 h. The parameters monitored were pH, BOD5 and oil and grease. Laboratory work has demonstrated that 25% (v/v) pectinolytic enzyme was able to remove BOD5 and oil and grease about 10% better than 50% (v/v) pectinolytic enzyme. The percentage of removal achieved by 25% (v/v) pectinolytic enzyme was 39.83 ± 9.50 mg/L and 64.21 ± 1.12 mg/L, respectively. However, it was observed that enzyme was less effective in removing BOD5 as the solution contains organic matter that increases the total organic matter in the wastewater mixture